MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Magallanes received 100.000 tourists in 2004.

Almost 100,000 tourists from all over the world visited Magallanes Region during the first quarter of 2004 according to reports from the Chilean Migration Police and Customs.

This represents a 20% increase over the same period last year, although not all frontier passes are included in the statistics.

The total number for Q 1 was 99,6000, compared to the 81,827 of a year ago, that already represented a number increase of 21,828 over the first quarter of 2002. Argentines, followed by Europeans are the main foreign visitors.

In the same period approximately 40,000 Chilean citizens left and later returned to the Region.

The tourist industry in the first quarter of 2004 is estimated to have generated a turnover of 115 million US dollars, according to Magallanes Commerce and Tourism chambers.